College Girls
by lovemenots0214
Summary: Eponine and Cosette become roommates in college seeing each other for the first time since they were children. Together they are away from home for the first time and lean on each other for friendship maybe more. AU and a bit OOC
1. Eponine

A/N: Before anyone one reads I just wanted to clear some things up so no one gets confused. In this story Eponine and Marius don't know each other and Montparnasse isn't a bad guy. Also the POVs will alternate at times. This part is Eponine's POV and the next will likely be Cosette. So please read and review!

Eponine walked into her new college apartment feeling very excited. She was finally away at college! She didn't even want to apply to Duke University knowing that she couldn't afford it. She was thankful for the scholarship she received since without it she knew coming here would not be possible. She was so surprised when she won it out of all of the hundreds of students who had applied. Azelma and Gavroche weren't surprised at all though. They always told her that she was the smartest person they knew. She had a straight A average and good SAT scores but she still thought they were just being modest. She knew that she was going to miss them. They had always looked out for each other since they knew their parents wouldn't and they hadn't for years.

She was also going to miss her boyfriend Montparnasse, especially since she knew he didn't want her to leave. He wanted her to go to the local community college so they could still be together. She hated him when she first met him after all any guy who dropped out of school and chose to hang around her dad had to be a loser. However, the more he hung around their apartment the more she realized he wasn't so bad after all. His home life was much worse than hers which she didn't think was possible. She had encouraged him to get his GED and a decent job so he wouldn't turn out to be like her dad. She helped him study for the test and he passed it the same day she learned about her scholarship. He even got a job at a local car garage and wanted them to have their own place once she graduated high school. She didn't want that, though. She loved him but she wasn't ready to take that step in their relationship. Plus she wanted to go to college. He wasn't happy about that and he was still kind of mad when she left. She knew their relationship was in trouble. She tried not to think about that now.

She looked around the spacious place from what she knew it had two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and there would be two girls staying in each room. She carried her two oversized suitcases and her carry-on bag towards one of the two rooms but stopped when she saw two girls standing in by the door of the room.

"I'm Eponine," she said greeting them with a smile.

"I'm Megan and this is Liz. This is our room. Yours is the other one. Your roommate isn't here yet." Meg explained but she didn't seem very eager to talk to her. In fact she sounded like she was mad at Eponine or something. She didn't say anything else to her. She wasn't going to let a rude girl ruin her mood so she just grabbed her bags and walked towards the other room. The girl Liz grabbed her smaller back and followed her.

"So your parents didn't come?" Liz said as Eponine opened the door. She just shook her head sadly. They wouldn't have come even if they could afford to take the twelve hour drive to the school. She was so jealous when she saw all of the other students around campus with their parents helping them settle in. She had to come all alone on a twelve hour ride on a Greyhound bus and had to catch the local bus to the campus. She was glad that Azelma, Gavroche and Montparnasse said goodbye to her at the bus station but it still wasn't the same.

"Oh that's too bad I'm sorry and I'm also sorry about Meg. She's like that sometimes." She said sitting the bag on one of the twin beds in the room. She didn't offer anymore information even though Eponine thought that she wanted to.

"I'll leave you to unpack." She said then left the room. Eponine claimed the bed by the window and put her bedding on it. Since she didn't have much stuff it didn't take her long to unpack. She had just placed framed photos of her and Montparnasse, and another one of her with her siblings on her desk when the door opened.

A very attractive girl with long blonde hair walked in with a couple of big suitcases and an older guy who Eponine assumed was her dad trailed behind her also carrying a couple of bags. There was someone else behind them carrying a couple of bags as well as a trunk. This girl had a ton of stuff but that wasn't what Eponine was drawn to. She also looked very familiar. She didn't think she ever encountered a girl like her back home so where did she know her from?

"Hi I'm Cosette," the girl said. Cosette?! Oh crap! She did know her! Cosette was the girl who stayed with her family when they used to run a bed and breakfast a long time ago. Cosette's mom had dropped her off back then and never came back. Her parents were never kind to her but Eponine and Azelma did play with her when their parents weren't looking. They were cruel to her in their parents' presence because it was what they were told to do. She felt bad for having to make Cosette cry all of those times despite being a part of "The Secret Girls Club" as the three girls had called their friendship. One night her mom had sent Cosette walking to the store in the middle of the night for a gallon of milk that she could have easily driven half a mile down the road to get herself but Cosette never came back. The next day she was told that one of Cosette's relatives came for her. She didn't even get a chance to apologize to her for pushing her outside that night when Cosette had refused to leave right away because she was scared. She always apologized to her when they were playing.

Back then Cosette didn't have much of anything and now here she was dressed in a designer outfit that Eponine recognized from one of the fashion magazine Azelma always read and with tons of luggage, and a parent who cared about her. And she just got off a long bus ride, was wearing clothes from goodwill, and had very little things. Oh how times changed!


	2. Cosette

A/N: Despite the chapter title, the first small part of this is from Eponine's POV and the rest is Cosette's. So please read and review!

"Hi I'm Eponine. Nice to um…meet you." Eponine said and one look at her face and she knew Cosette recognized her. She just hoped she wouldn't be mean to her not that she didn't deserve it. Maybe she'll just request to move to another apartment.

"Come on Cosette, we have other things to get." Her father said or at least she thought he was her father. She remembered Cosette telling her a long time ago that she had no father. Cosette followed behind the man and Eponine sat on her bed after they left. "What is this Barbie goes to college?" She heard either Megan or Liz say from the living room then she heard laughter from both of them. "I know right? Another rich princess whose daddy thinks she's someone special." The other one said. Eponine was getting angry. They didn't even know Cosette so how could they say those things about her. A few minutes later Cosette came back with her dad with a lot more stuff. The guy who had come with them had brought in a new twenty inch plasma TV in a box. Wow, Eponine thought enviously. She had a new television just for school? The only television set they had was a small one that their mom kept in her bedroom to watch her soaps. They all went outside again which of course started Megan and Liz talking again. "Oh my god, Liz you have go to see Barbie's dream car!" Megan said. She didn't see them but Eponine figured they must have been looking out the window. Eponine was curious too so she went over to the window in the bedroom and saw Cosette and her dad standing by a convertible silver Audi. "I wonder how much her daddy paid to get her in this place." One of them said. They went on and on. They were so jealous of Cosette! Hell even she was a little jealous but they were just straight up being haters. For some reason she wanted to go out there and defend her but she wasn't going to do that just yet. Not at least until she knew where she and Cosette stood.

"Do you know that girl?" Cosette's father asked her when they were outside of her apartment building.

"Sort of. She was in my class once back in elementary school." She said. She hated lying to him but she knew that if her father knew that Eponine was the Thenardiers' oldest daughter he would make her change rooms. She remembered Eponine from when they were children. It wasn't until she told her her name that she remembered her and it was obvious that she remembered her as well. She just hoped she would be nice to her. She didn't want the Eponine that was mean to her when her mother was around. She hoped Eponine was the same girl who was nice to her in their "Secret Girls Club" when her parents weren't around. She wanted to say good bye to her when she left all those years ago. A part of her wanted to ask if she could say good bye to her but she was afraid she'd get the mean Eponine and not the nice one.

"Well it's nice that you sort of know someone here. It's not too late to change your mind Cosette," he told her not for the first time. She wasn't going to change her mind. She had chosen Duke University and that was where she was going to stay. It was bothering her that the most important people in her life didn't want her to come here. Her father wanted her to attend the University of Connecticut so she could stay home while she went to school. He still felt the need to protect her. When she was younger, it was great to have a parent who loved and wanted to protect her but once she got in high school it was smothering. She couldn't go out on school nights and had an eight o' clock curfew, which for a high school student was unheard of. She was surprised that she was even allowed to date Marius in the first place. He didn't seem to mind having her home at eight or that she had an overprotective father.

Marius wasn't as vocal about not wanting her to come to Duke. He wanted her to go to Yale with him even though he never said it. They had made the decision to choose which college they wanted to go to without each other's influence. Marius had told her at first that he didn't want to go to Yale like his father and grandfather had so he had applied for other schools including Duke. She had hoped he would choose Duke but he didn't. When they went to dinner on the night of their senior prom, they had decided that was when they were going to reveal their choice to each other. She went first and said "I chose Duke." His face fell as he said "I chose Yale." In the end he thought it would be best to go to Yale to make his family proud and he wanted her to come with him.

"I'm not going to change my mind Papa, I hope you understand that." She said. He sighed. "That's okay. I guess you had to leave home sometime. Just make sure that you call me every day and be very careful about who you trust here. I have to go. I'm going to miss you Cosette," He said then hugged her.

"I'll miss you, too." She said about to cry and realized that she really was. Despite him being so overprotective she was going to miss him. She watched him drive off in his car then turned to go back inside. The two other girls, Meg and Liz, were sitting in the living room now talking. They hushed up when they saw Cosette walk in. Were they talking about her? She didn't have time to worry about that now. She still had to finish setting up her bedroom. When she walked by she heard them snicker. She saw Eponine sitting on her bed reading when she walked in the room. Here goes, she thought.

"So how have you been?" She asked Eponine not knowing what else to say to her.

"Okay, what about you?" Eponine said looking up at her.

"Fine, I guess. It's been a long time, Eponine."

"Yeah about ten years. A lot has happened in that time." She said looking sad. What was that all about?

"Like what?"

"It's a very long story," Eponine said then after a few seconds of silence she started "Look Cosette…" At the same time Cosette said "Eponine…"

"I'll go first," Eponine said. "I'm very sorry about everything that happened back then. I wished I could have been friends with you the whole time instead of having to switch back and forward. I hate that we never got to say good bye to each other." Cosette smiled relieved. It looked like she was getting "The Secret Girls Club" Eponine.

"I forgive you Eponine. It was a long time ago after all. Plus as I recall if it wasn't for you there were times I wouldn't have even eaten." Cosette said remembering Eponine sneaking her food at times. They embraced and then pulled apart. She had a lot of unpacking to do. She had wished now that she hadn't brought so much stuff. "Do you want some help?" Eponine said as she watched Cosette unzip one of her bags. "Oh you don't have to." Eponine walked over and unzipped one of the other bags and said "It's okay I don't mind at all. Besides it's not like I have much else to do right now. I have a busy day tomorrow so I'd rather help you and catch up since I probably won't see you until tomorrow evening. I have to register for classes and go to orientation and training for my job at the campus coffee house." Why would Eponine have to work? She had the nicest things back when they were younger and her parents drove nice cars. She was very jealous of them. What exactly had happened in those ten years? She didn't want to pry but she hoped Eponine would open up to her.

"Fine you can help. I'll plug up my iPod docking station so we can listen to music. It will help us work faster. I hope you like Taylor Swift," she said as she pulled the radio out of her trunk and placed it on the nightstand. Eponine grimaced for a second then smiled "It's fine for now but we'll have to work on your music taste later on."

"Not a chance," she joked.

They worked and finished after an hour. Over that time Cosette had learned that Eponine's family no longer owned the Bed and Breakfast but she wouldn't tell her why. She also learned that she was here on scholarship and had a great boyfriend who she said did the sweetest thing for her on her senior prom night. "Montparnasse knew I was upset about not being able to afford to go so the same night he made me a candlelight dinner in his room at this boarding house he stays at. He even gave me a corsage and bought me a tiara and told me I would always be the prom queen to him." She said dreamily and even showed her the tiara which now sat on her part of the dresser. It had made Cosette think about her own prom night. If the dinner hadn't ruined it, her early curfew did. She had to be back at 9:30 on prom night, when her father said he would extend her curfew for the night she hoped it would be longer than that. She even missed the after party and Marius, who was upset about the college thing, hadn't done one romantic thing for her all night.

"Do you want to go explore the campus with me?" Cosette asked Eponine. Sure she had gone on a campus tour over the summer but she hadn't explored the campus on her own yet.

"Sure let's go." She said. They walked out of the room and saw Meg and Liz still sitting in the living room.

"Hey where are you guys going?" Liz asked them.

"We are just going to walk around campus for a little while. Do you want to come with us?" Cosette asked them to be friendly. She was still pretty sure that they were talking about her earlier.

"No thanks. That's pretty boring but you girls have fun," Megan said then she and Liz exchanged a look like they were about to burst out laughing. What was that all about? "Come on Cosette." Eponine said pulling her arm.

"Look Cosette, you don't want to talk to them." She said once they were out of the building.

"Why not? I don't even know them yet."

"I didn't want to tell you this at first but when you went outside with your dad they were talking about you. They called you Barbie and said your dad probably bought your way in this place like a lot of other rich kids around here parents do. Then they said they hated girls like you who think everyone should like them because they have a fancy car and rich parents." Cosette wanted to cry. Ever since she left Eponine's family years ago, everyone liked her. She didn't have any enemies and now these girls hated her for no reason except that she was rich? Eponine saw her pained expression and squeezed her hand. "Don't worry about them, they're just jealous. We don't need them. We have each other; remember we're two thirds of The Secret Girls club." She said smiling at her. Cosette smiled back for some reason that made her feel much better.

A/N: I know this is kind of a fluff chapter but I'm just setting everything up. More to come!


	3. Chapter 3 (Eponine)

**A/N: I know it's been awhile since I've updated this one! So sorry about the wait. Please R/R! **

"Cosette? Are you sure?" Azelma said to her over the phone. It was a week later and she was on her break at the Applebee's off campus, she worked at the coffee shop a couple of days before deciding to apply for a waitress job there. She was glad she did because this was just her second day and she so far she had ninety dollars in tips. Plus she knew that was nothing compared to the amount she would make on weekends. This was the first time she had talked to her sister since she came to Duke. She had been dying to tell her about Cosette being her roommate but they didn't have cell phones like pretty much everyone else in the world did. The only reason she was calling her now was because one of her co-workers let her use her phone and she knew Azelma was at her own job at Baskin Robins during the time.

"Yes I'm sure. She's very nice though. We always talk about the good times we had together." That was something Eponine was thankful for. Both of them never talked about how mean she was to her a long time ago. She wanted to make it up to her but she didn't know how. Cosette had everything a girl could want. In fact these past couple of days it had been Cosette that was giving to her. She let her watch her television, drove her places in her car, and even let her borrow clothes at times.

"That's a relief. Tell her I said hi, okay?"

"Will do. How is Gavroche doing?"

"Fine, he misses you though just like I do," she said sadly. She missed her siblings too. She missed being responsible for their well-being. She was still hoping that they can manage without her. She had promised to send them money but it was just that she missed taking care of them financially. Yes the responsibility of having to cook dinner and clean up after them was gone but she still missed it.

"I'm going to try to visit you guys as soon as I can. Hopefully before the semester is out."

"Great I look forward to seeing you."

"Azelma, have you seen Montparnasse around?" She asked. She had threaded even asking about it. She hadn't talked to him either despite trying to reach him. She had called his room, his cell phone and even his job but got nowhere. One day she called the garage he worked at and the girl told her to wait and a minute later she said he wasn't there. Eponine knew she was lying though. She had heard him in the background. She didn't know what was going on with that.

"Only a couple of times," Azelma said but she had a feeling her sister was lying though. What was she hiding?

"Well next time you see him, tell him to call me. I've been trying to but he won't answer or call me back." She said.

"Are you sure you want to talk to him, Ponine?"

"What? Of course I do, Zelma! He is my boyfriend you know. Why wouldn't I want to talk to him?" She heard Lynette the other waitress calling out to her telling her that her break was up five minutes ago and she needed to get back on the floor since she was ready to go home. Eponine figured the woman must have been watching the clock or something.

"I'll talk to you later. I have to go." She said then hung up. She still wanted to know what Azelma meant by that.

A couple of days later she and Cosette were walking across campus together on their way to class. They didn't share the same class but they were heading towards the same building though. Every Tuesday and Thursday they decided that they would have the same routine. They would go to their separate classes in the History building then go have lunch together at the cafeteria. Usually they talked to each other but for some reason today Cosette was chatting away on her cell phone. Well really arguing on her phone. Whoever she was on the phone with she was having a very heated conversation with them. This was the third time she heard Cosette in a heated conversation not to mention the fact that she never seen Cosette really mad before not even when they were kids. She was sad about Megan and Liz that one time but never mad. The past couple of times when Cosette had these conversations she would go outside the room and Eponine couldn't hear what she was saying but now she could hear every word.

"No! I really wish you didn't do that! If you were really so concerned you would have come here instead! I don't need someone looking after me!" She was screaming now. She was curious about who she was talking to but she wasn't going to pry.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore, Marius. I'm sick of having this conversation." She said then clicked a button on her phone and jammed it in her purse. She let out a frustrated sigh. "Are you okay Cosette?" She asked her.

"Not really. My boyfriend is treating me like a child. I can understand my father doing it but I don't need him to act like I need to be looked after or something."

"Maybe he just cares about you. There's nothing wrong with that."

"There is a difference between caring about someone and treating them like a child. You know a couple of his friends go here and he's been telling them to look out for me! Can you believe that? I don't need to be looked after! He's the one who went to Yale! What a….sorry, well at least you have a boyfriend who doesn't treat you like a child." She didn't answer that one because at the moment she had no clue where she stood with Montparnasse and her conversation with Azelma was still bugging the hell out of her.

She tried to call him again using Cosette's phone but she got no answer. This was getting old and tired. She wanted to know what exactly Azelma meant by what she said but on the other hand she was almost afraid to ask. It was on her mind while she was working later that day. She wasn't really concentrating on what she was doing and had screwed up a few orders. She knew the customers were getting frustrated with her. She had just placed the dinner order on a table filled with guys who she assumed attended her college. She had screwed up their order once already. "I hope you know you aren't getting a tip for this," one of them said rudely.

"Fine, whatever," she said knowing that she had probably crossed the line a little. She wasn't supposed to talk back to customers. She had been working since she was fourteen and she knew that it was the major no-no in customer service.

"Just because you're hot it doesn't mean you can talk to me like that, babe." He said curtly.

"Paul just leave her alone." One of the guys who was with him said. He had curly blond hair and pretty blue eyes. She thought he was gorgeous and he seemed nice unlike his friend.

"Why should he? She's supposed to be nice to us. Plus the customer is always right. Isn't that right babe?" The other guy sitting next to Paul said into her chest. Apparently he thought they were Hooters. There was another guy at the table as well who was sitting next to the blond guy. He was on his third drink and she knew she didn't serve it to him. She knew that Paul and the other guy next to him had ordered drinks and not him which meant he must have been underage. Plenty of the college kids who came in here did that. They would get their friends who were 21 or over to order them alcohol and then consume it themselves. That wasn't legal but she wasn't going to say anything. Plus it wasn't like management didn't know about it.

She was starting to just walk away from the table when one of the guys called out to her. "Hey babe can you get me a couple more drinks and try not to screw that up," the guy sitting next to Paul said. She walked away not saying anything. One thing was for sure when she graduated she would never work in customer service again. A few minutes later she returned to the table with the drinks on a tray.

"Thanks babe. It looks like you aren't completely useless after all," the guy sitting next to Paul said.

"It's Eponine not babe!" She snapped. She couldn't hold her tongue any longer with these jerks.

"It's whatever we want it to be babe. How did you even get this job?" The guy said.

"I can think of a good reason. Let me guess it involved you either laying on your back or getting on your knees right babe?" Paul said to her. He and the other guy laughed. The guy next to the blond guy laughed too but then he hit him and he stopped immediately. She put the tray down on the table with a thud and the drinks spilled over and on Paul. He got up like she had burned him or something. "What the hell? You did that on purpose!"

"No I didn't." She protested. She really didn't. Yes she was thinking about it but she didn't actually do it.

"You incompetent little bitch! Who do you think you are?" He said screaming at her. The blond guy got up and went over to him. "Paul just let it go. It's not a big deal," he told him.

"Hell no man she's going to pay for that!" He was starting towards as if he was going to hit her or something. She really wished he would even lay a finger on her. She would have him in jail so fast for assault.

"Eponine, what's going on here?" Crap she thought. Her supervisor was at the table now. Apparently they were causing a scene and she knew she would be completely blamed for it.

"This waitress just poured drinks on me and she's been really rude all night."

"_I've _been rude?" She asked surprised.

"Okay Eponine that's enough. I've heard a lot of complaints about you. I think you're done waiting tables for the night. I'm putting you on dishwashing duty for the rest of your shift," he told her and then turned to the guys and said "I'm very sorry sir. Your entire party's meal is on the house or better yet on Eponine. She'll be paying for it out of her tips." What? Was he serious? She was pretty sure they had ordered about $60 worth of food and that was all of her tips except for a couple of dollars. She had wasted her whole night working here for nothing and all because of these jerks. She walked away since she was about to cry. She had this thing about never letting people who upset her see her cry. It was something she learned over the past few years with her father. She used to cry when he said and did mean things to her but then she saw how much he seemed to enjoy it so she stopped. "Eponine, come back here!"

She walked back over towards the table her eyes were filling up with water. "Don't you have something to say?"

"I'm sorry," she said through gritted teeth. If he thought she was going to say it like she meant it then he was out of his mind. "Good now go to kitchen. We'll talk about your behavior later." She walked away quickly. She just wanted this night to be over. A couple of hours later her shift was finally over. Being taken off of waitress duty had done some good for her but it still didn't hurt any less to lose her tip money because of a few jerks. She knew that she was fortunate enough to only get a warning over the whole thing and not fired but that wouldn't get the money back, though. If she ever saw that jerk Paul around campus she was going to kill him.

She had just walked in the waiting area when the blond guy who was with Paul and his friends walked in. What was he doing back here? Sure he had sort of stuck up for her but she wished he had of done that when her boss was around and that way she wouldn't have lost her tips. "Hey I was hoping I caught you before you left. I just wanted to apologize for what happened. Paul's kind of a jerk sometimes."

"Then why do you hang out with him?" She snapped.

"I don't know much about him I just met him two weeks ago when I came here. I didn't mean for any of that to happen to you. I just hope you are okay now."

"I'm not but I will be. Thanks for checking up on me," she said regretting snapping him up. After all he hadn't done anything to her.

"It's not a problem. I'm Aiden Enjolras but everyone just calls me Enjolras."

"I'm Eponine. Nice to meet you," she said to him.

"Yeah I know you shout it out earlier," he said and smiled at her. She smiled back. He looked even cuter when he smiled. Too bad she had a boyfriend back home though. One who wasn't answering her calls but that wasn't the point. The point is that right now Montparnasse was currently her boyfriend.

"I have to go but it was nice meeting you too. Here's a little something for your trouble." He said and thrust some money in her hand. She looked down at it and saw four twenties. What the hell? She thought then looked up and saw that he was gone.

**A/N : I'll likely update this one and the other one I'm working on, Eponine's Dilemma (don't mean to self-promote but if you haven't checked that one out please do!), sometime later this week since I have some free time from Wednesday to Friday. **


	4. Chapter 4 (Cosette)

**A/N: Well here's the next chapter and one whole day sooner then I originally said! Please read and review!**

Cosette was bombed. She hated feeling this way but she couldn't help it. Plus the fact that it was all Marius's fault was making her even more upset. They never fought before and now it was all they did. If her father asked she would always say that she and Marius were fine even though they weren't. If Marius wasn't treating her like a child, it wouldn't be problem. Plus having Enjolras and Grantaire come check on her made her even angrier. If she didn't know any better, she'd think that the only reason those guys came here was because Marius wanted them to keep an eye on her but she knew that wasn't true though. Enjolras had been planning on coming to Duke as long as she knew him since his parents went here and Grantaire would have followed Enjolras off a cliff if he would have walked off of one.

Today she had resorted to not even answering Marius's calls. There were only so many times she could tell him that she was fine and she didn't need looking after. It was six o'clock and Marius had called her a total of twelve times. Didn't he have anything better to do?

"Isn't it weird that I've never seen him again? I know this is a big campus but I thought I would have run into him by now." Eponine was saying.

"What?" Cosette asked confused. She wasn't listening and she felt bad about it. She knew what Eponine was talking about though. It was what she had been talking about for the past few days. Some hot guy had given her a big tip since one of his friends had cost her to lose all of her tips that night and she still had no clue how to find the guy. Plus she couldn't even remember his name which might have helped. Eponine had a boyfriend so why was she obsessing over some other guy?

"Are you even listening to me Cosette? What's bothering you?"

"It's nothing just some stuff with Marius but anyway have you ever thought about the fact that he might not even go here? There are a couple more college campuses around here. He could go to UNC or NC State, you know." She said mainly to change the subject. She didn't want to hear any more about it but it was better than talking about Marius right now.

"I thought about that but it's impossible. He had on a Duke t-shirt so he must go here. We should try to find him together. It'll get your mind off of Marius. Besides, thinking of a new guy has taken my mind off of Montparnasse." She revealed. She almost forgot that they were having problems as well. The only difference was Eponine was trying not to think about it. Not that Cosette thought thinking of some new guy would help matters but it was better than worrying about why her boyfriend wasn't calling her.

"Fine I'll help you but what are we going to do just walk around campus and look hard at every guy with blond hair and blue eyes. There are a lot of guys here who look like that including Marius's best friend." She said rolling her eyes. She didn't hate Enjolras. She just hated it when he checked up on her.

"Maybe that's too complicated but we'll think of something." She said getting up and grabbing her and Cosette's plates to put them in the sink. Eponine had just cooked some homemade soft tacos for dinner and they were delicious. Eponine cooked whenever she was off work during the week. She said she loved to cook and did it for her siblings back home. She was really good at it and Eponine's cooking was better than eating cafeteria food so Cosette wasn't complaining. She heard a knock on the door and told Eponine that she'll get it. She walked and opened the door thinking it was one of their neighbors who they hung out with sometimes. She was disappointed when she saw Enjolras standing there. "Hey Cosette, does that expression mean you're happy to see me?" He said jokingly.

"What do you want Enjolras?" She said and moved to the side so he could get in.

"Marius said you aren't picking up and I haven't seen you all day so I told him that I'll come by and see if you were okay." She should have known he would come by after she didn't pick up. She was starting to wish she had of answered the phone.

"I'm fine Enjolras so you can leave now."

"Cosette, who was at the door?" Eponine called from the kitchen.

"Who was that your roommate?" Enjolras asked her looking towards the kitchen.

"Yes of course it is. Why else would she be here? Her name is Eponine. Now can you please go?" She said trying to move him towards the door. He didn't move and just had a confused look on his face. "Eponine? Did you just say Eponine?" What was so surprising about Eponine's name? Cosette suddenly gasped. "Ohmigawd!"

"What?" Enjolras asked her.

"Wait a minute," she said to him and then called out "Oh Eponine get out here! There's someone I want you to meet!" Eponine came out of the kitchen and frozen in her tracks. Cosette couldn't help but smile. All this time she was talking about Enjolras and Cosette had no idea.

"Well hello again Eponine," Enjolras said to her smiling.

"Wow isn't it a small world. I had no idea you were talking about Enjolras! To think you've been obsessing over him the past few days and…"

"Cosette!" Eponine said cutting her off. Oops, she didn't mean to embarrass her. She was sure if Eponine's skin was as fair as hers she'd be turning red right now.

"It's so great seeing you again Eponine." He was saying to her. Cosette felt that she shouldn't even be in the room anymore so she decided to silently walk out of the apartment. The front door opened suddenly when she was putting her purse on her shoulder and in walked Megan and Liz, their two other roommates. She tried to avoid them as much as possible ever since she learned that they hated her.

"Hello there," Megan was saying but she wasn't talking to her or Eponine and was just looking at Enjolras like she had never seen a guy before. Take a picture it'll last longer, Cosette thought feeling disgusted by them.

"Eponine, why don't you introduce us to your friend?" Liz said and made her way over to Enjolras and looped her arm into his. Cosette smiled when Enjolras pulled away from her. Cosette made the introductions and hoped they would walk away afterwards but they didn't instead they kept talking to Enjolras. "There's this party tonight at the Rivera club, why don't you come? We'll be there. Invite some of your friends as well especially if they are as hot as you." Megan was saying. Eponine stuck out her tongue and pointed her finger down her throat behind the girls back while she looked at Cosette. Cosette had to turn away to keep from laughing out loud.

"We'll definitely be there. Thanks for inviting all of us," Eponine said before Enjolras could even answer. Megan's face fell. "We weren't inviting you guys," she said coldly.

"Yeah you said he can bring his friends and we are his friends. Plus we are as hot as he is maybe even hotter so we'll be there. Won't we Cosette?" Eponine said to her. Cosette wasn't sure even though she liked the way Eponine was handling them. Eponine had been to a couple of parties with the girls across the hall but she hadn't been to any and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to. The whole party scene wasn't her thing. Who wanted to see a bunch of drunken people act stupid? However she thought she better say yes for Eponine's sake. She could always change her mind later. "Definitely." She said smiling at them. Megan and Liz rolled their eyes at each other and went off to their room.

"You have to ignore them. They are idiots." Eponine said to Enjolras but he was looking at Cosette. "Cosette you can't go to a party like that. Won't Marius be upset?" Ugh! What the hell was wrong with him? For a minute she had forgotten why he had come over in the first place then he reminded her. "I don't care what he thinks or what you think either for that matter!" She screamed then went to her room and slammed the door. She picked up her phone and called Marius.

"Cosette! Where have you been? I've been calling and calling!" he exclaimed.

"Look Marius, I'm sorry I didn't call you back. I need to talk to you about something though. You need to stop babying me. That means don't send Enjolras to check up on me and remember that I'm in college so I can do whatever I want. I'm also not going to have this conversation with you anymore." The other line was silent. So silent that she thought he had hung up on her.

"I'm trying to protect you Cosette. You don't know what you are getting yourself into. Maybe you should have come here after all or at least..."

"No Marius! Just stop it okay? If this is what you are going to do then this isn't going to work out." She said not believing she had just said that. Did she just suggest that they break up? Maybe it was for the best anyway.

"If that's what you want then fine," he said then hung up on her. It was just fine with her too and if she kept telling herself that then maybe she wouldn't be so upset about it.

That night she and Eponine decided to go to the party. Enjolras had decided not to come giving some excuse about having to study. She was kind of glad about that although she wouldn't tell that to Eponine. She didn't want to see anyone who reminded her of Marius tonight. The only reason she was here was because it was better than moping around feeling sorry herself. At first she thought about calling him back and apologizing right before they left but then her dad called her with the same type of questions Marius was always asking her. She was so sick of everyone always trying to protect her and one less person doing it was fine with her! After they walked around for a minute a girl greeted Eponine and started talking to her for what seemed like forever. She met eyes with Grantaire who was now making his way over to her. He had a drink in his hand, of course. That wasn't out of the ordinary. He was the main person getting slouched at parties back in high school. "Hey Cosette, why are you here? This isn't your type of environment at all. Marius said you weren't the party type."

"Marius doesn't know as much about me as he thinks! And FYI Marius and I are over so you can leave me alone now!" She said then walked away from him and towards the bar.

"What do you want babe?" The bartender asked her.

"The strongest thing you got," She said angrily. She would show them all that she wasn't some little girl anymore.

**A/N: Chapter Five should come out later this week as well. I wrote two chapters last night but I don't want to publish them at the same time though. **


	5. Chapter 5 (Eponine)

**A/N: I really have nothing to say except thanks for the new follows and reviews. And if you read my other story which I also recently updated then you already know that it will be two weeks before I can update again. But please read and review! **

Eponine hated it when these parties started getting too crowded. It was like she couldn't even move plus it seemed like everyone was wasted. If she got hit on by one more drunken loser, she was going to scream. It was late and she did have a class at nine in the morning so she was ready to go anyway. Kayleigh who stayed across the hall was making her way towards her. She was holding two drinks in her hand. "I brought you another one," she said holding out the red solo cup to Eponine but she shook her head. One was her limit. She had no desire to become an alcoholic like her father was.

"I'm just going to find Cosette and get out of here," she told Kayleigh. She had no idea where Cosette went. Eponine hadn't seen her in about an hour. She was over by the bar having a drink the last time she saw her but she didn't think that was a big deal since it wasn't nothing different than what everyone else was doing. What was a college party if you didn't have a drink?

"I don't think she's ready to leave," Kayleigh said and giggled. What was she talking about? Cosette didn't even really want to come to this party. She was surprised that she wasn't ready to go home ten minutes later. Kayleigh led her towards the back of the club where she saw lots more people and Cosette was there as well. She was surprised at what she saw Cosette doing. She was dancing with two guys, if you could call it that. She was really sandwiched between two guys who were dry humping on her. Yeah that was just gross! She walked over to her and pulled her away. "Come on Cosette it's time to go home," she declared.

"Wha…what? I left my dad in Connecticut...don't nobody tells Cosette whass to do. Cosette sicka of that…ya hear me?" She said slurring her words. She was drunk as hell. Great, Eponine thought. Why did Cosette do this? She didn't understand it at all.

"Imma get another," Cosette said and headed towards the bar. Eponine grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards her. "No Cosette I think you've had enough. Let's just get out of here, okay? Come on party's over. Give me your keys so I can drive us home."

"What da I juss say, Eponine? Don't tell Cosette whass to do. She can do whateva she…she… want. So screw ya and Marius too!" Damn it! What the hell was she going to do? She wasn't going to just leave Cosette here to get even more wasted, not with these horny toads around. She had an idea and went into Cosette's front pocket to grab her cell phone.

"What ya doin?" Cosette slurred but Eponine ignored her and grabbed the phone. She just hoped his phone number was listed in her phone and was glad when she found it.

"Hello Enjolras? I'm sorry to call you so late but I really need your help."

About fifteen minutes later she spotted him walking towards her. She hadn't taken her eyes off of Cosette the whole time and watched helplessly as she helped herself to a couple more drinks. She did make sure no more guys tried to sandwich her though. She didn't care if Cosette was calling her a cockblock; a word she didn't even know was in Cosette's vocabulary.

"Thank goodness you are here! We need to get her home." She told him when he reached her. "It's okay. Let me handle it." He said. Cosette spotted him too and then ran over to them. "Enjy! Didn't know ya was here. Ya know I…I… always thought…you were…mush…hotta...than...Marius! Nah… that I…single…let's get to…toget...," she stumbled a little then puked all over his shoes before she could finish her sentence. Eww! Now Eponine knew she wasn't going to eat for a week. "Alright Cosette let's go. You've had enough," he said surprisingly keeping his composure despite Cosette's puke being all over his shoes.

"Come on let's go," he said to Eponine then picked Cosette up and put her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and walked out with her. Eponine followed him to the black BMW SUV in the parking lot where he had placed Cosette in the backseat then took off his shoes and threw them in the trunk before getting in the driver's seat. Eponine got in on the passenger side. Cosette complained her head was hurting then lay down on the back seat. A few minutes later she was snoring. "Why didn't you look out for her?" Enjolras said to her.

"Excuse me?" She said offended.

"When you go to a party with a friend you're supposed to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen. Plus she had no business in that environment anyway. Why did you even bring her here?"

"Okay first of all she wanted to come here and second have you ever thought that maybe that was the problem? You and that Marius guy are always treating her like a child. She doesn't need to be babied you know. I'll admit I was wrong to leave her for as long as I did but she doesn't need to be babysat though. She complains about it all of the time." She explained to him.

"Fine look I'm sorry okay? Seeing her like this is just so surprising."

"Tell me about it," she said shaking her head. They drove in silence the rest of the way there and then he got her out of the car and she led him to their bedroom. He laid Cosette down on the bed and asked if she needed any help with her. "I can take things from here, thanks for coming so quickly." She said then walked him to the door. She went back to Cosette who lying face down on the bed and took off her shoes and dress. This was awful and not a one person job but she would have to make the best of it. She put one Cosette's t-shirts on her and let her lay back down then went to the bathroom to get ready for bed herself. When she got out she saw Cosette sitting up on her bed. Her eyes were bloodshot and it seemed as if she was looking right through her. "Eponine, I'm so glad you're here. Please sit next to me." Eponine sighed and went over to her. She hoped Cosette would fall back asleep soon.

"I showed everyone tonight didn't I? I told Marius I'm not a baby and I proved it to him didn't I Eponine?" She said and leaned her head on Eponine's shoulder. "Sure Cosette."

She lifted her head off of Eponine's shoulder then said "You're my best friend Eponine. I love you." She then moved her lips over Eponine's and kissed her. She pulled back fast and got up. She was disgusted and shocked at the same time. Disgusted because Cosette's breath smelled like a mix of puke and alcohol and shocked because well…What the hell? "I think I better go to sleep now. I'm getting tired and I have class tomorrow." Cosette said and laid back down and a few minutes later Eponine heard her snoring once again. Eponine stayed awake in the dark for a minute before finally drifting off to sleep still not knowing what to think about that.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N 1: I haven't updated this one in awhile once again. So I'm very sorry. I had said I would update my other story but I felt the need to update this one first since it's been much longer. But please read and review!**

**A/N 2: The first part of this chapter is Eponine's POV and the rest is Cosette sorry for any confusion. **

Eponine was running off of three hours of sleep. Once she had finally settled down and drifted off last night it was four in the morning and before she knew it her alarm was going off. She had to drag herself to class and was now on her third cup of coffee and it was only one in the afternoon so she had a long ways to go and a nap wasn't on the agenda since she had another class, a study group and then work to go to. She was walking back to the apartment to see if Cosette was awake. She knew when her father went out drinking he never woke up before noon and there were some days when he didn't get up until almost six in the evening. She didn't know what time Cosette would wake up though. She had an extra cup of coffee in her hand just in case she was awake. She was wondered how much about last night did Cosette remember. Did she remember dancing up on a bunch of guys? And more importantly did she remember kissing her? Eponine just hoped it was the alcohol's doing and not because Cosette actually liked her. She already had enough to deal with relationship wise without adding more to it.

She opened the room door and she saw Cosette still lying in bed but she was awake though. "Eponine, I'm glad you're here. I've been up for the past few minutes and I have the worse headache."

"I figured you would. I brought you some coffee." She said holding out the cup. Cosette sat up and bed and grabbed it then took a sip.

"I knew I shouldn't have gone to that party. Why did I drink so much? I don't even know how many I had." She revealed to Eponine.

"Do you remember anything else about last night?" Eponine asked her.

"I know Marius and I are over. We broke up over the phone." She said then took another sip of coffee.

"I meant about the party Cosette. Do you remember what happened there or afterwards?" Eponine just had to know if she remembered anything about it. She hoped she didn't.

"No, not really. I had some drinks at the bar and the next thing I knew I woke up." Eponine breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for that!

"I came here to see if you were awake and if you were doing okay but I have another class to get to I'll get you some aspirin and water for your head before I go though." She said. She didn't think Cosette was really listening to her since she just lay back down on her bed. She hoped Cosette would somber up soon. She hated seeing her like this because seeing someone hung over drunk reminded her too much of her father. That wasn't something she wanted to be reminded of. She was just glad Cosette didn't remember the kiss because that would have been way too complicated.

The next day Cosette was walking towards the student center like she did in between classes sometimes. She was glad she was finally completely better. She felt like crap yesterday and stayed inside most of the day. She had to leave to get her car from the club's parking lot but she let Eponine drive it back. The sun only made her head hurt worse and plus she had to wear sunglasses since the light hurt her eyes. She came back home and didn't leave the house after that. "Hi Cosette!" a guy she passed by said smiling at her expectantly. He was the third guy who had done that today. He must have been one of the guys at the party the other night. She knew she didn't do anything but dance but since it wasn't exactly innocent they must have thought she was that kind of girl. She couldn't remember any of their faces but she knew she danced like that with lots of guys. Now she was really embarrassed. Her father would be so ashamed if he found out about it. She was still afraid that he would find out that she wasn't a virgin anymore. She had already lied to him and said that she was simply sick yesterday and stayed in bed all day. She hadn't told him about the party or breaking up with Marius.

Did that really happen? Last year she couldn't even imagine breaking up with him. They had plans together. They would graduate from college, he would finish law school and then they would get married and have lots of kids making sure they named their first born daughter Fantine, after her dead mother. That seemed like it was so long ago now. Plus she was sadly realizing that she didn't love him as much as she thought she did since she had been here. She walked into the student center and made her way to one of the empty tables. She usually sat in one of the TV rooms and watched the daytime talk shows with some of the other students but she had completely missed her classes yesterday and had to go over the notes from her History class that she had just gotten from one of her classmates just in case there was a pop quiz tomorrow.

She couldn't really concentrate on what she was doing mainly because of her guilt. She had lied to Eponine, the only person here that she could really count on. She told her she couldn't remember anything that happened that night even though she remembered some details. Not only did she remember dancing with some guys but she remembered Eponine. She remembered that she had kissed her and the shocked look on her face. She should have just been honest but then Eponine would ask her why and then what would she say? Would she have continued to be honest about something she was confused about herself? She didn't want to do that. Being honest would have meant confessing that she hadn't kissed Eponine just because she was drunk but because she just might be attracted to her. She was sure Eponine would have been freaked out by that. Hell even she was a little freaked out about it. Plus there was no need to get into something that she didn't even want to admit to herself. She had been thinking about Eponine a lot and even daydreamed about kissing her. She wasn't a lesbian but there was something about her and she didn't get it. Plus she figured if she didn't kiss Eponine while she was drunk she wouldn't have had the nerve to do it again. She just hoped Eponine believed her when she said she didn't remember.

Cosette put her books up knowing that it was a lost cause. She looked up and across the quad was Eponine. She was with the girl Kayleigh who stayed across the hall from them and a couple of guys. She noticed one of the guys was Enjolras. For a minute she had forgotten that they sort of liked each other and was even a little jealous of it. Eponine not only had a boyfriend back home but she also had Enjolras. They hadn't noticed her since the place was so crowded and she wasn't sure if she even wanted them to. Eponine was wearing a pair of capris and a cute pink tank top that Cosette knew Eponine had just bought a week ago from Old Navy. She couldn't help but look at her cleavage and how the necklace she was wearing rested between her boobs. She started to smile about it but then stopped herself. What the hell was she thinking and why? She just packed up her things and decided that she had to get out of there.

**A/N: I know that might be a bit out there for some of you and that was sort of a fluff chapter but the good news is there will be more updates of this and my other story (for those who read the other one as well) since my internship and play are both over! Until I start classes back in August I will try to update both stories once or twice a week. The Eponine's Dilemma story will be updated by Sunday, I'm not plugging it I just know I have some followers of both stories and I'm letting them know. **


End file.
